* Koro-sensei of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' introduces himself as the one responsible for turning the moon into a permanent crescent, and that he plans to do the same to the Earth unless the titular classroom kills him by the end of the school year. [[spoiler: The first part isn't true, but he is related to the experiments that caused the moon explosion. The second part, however, is technically true. He doesn't ''want'' to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, but based on the information available at the beginning of the series, [[YourDaysAreNumbered he's going to explode within a year, and the only wait to prevent it is if someone kills him before then]].]]
* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', the oath that the Survey Corps gives is that they offer their beating hearts for the sake of humanity. This allows them to [[spoiler: rebel against the royal family because they are sworn to ''humanity'', not the King.]]
** When Reiner first started basic training, he said he was there "to save humanity." One might assume that he joined to save humanity from the Titans, but he actually means [[spoiler:saving the rest of the world from the Eldians of Paradis]].
* ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'':
** In the ShowWithinAShow, "Otter no. 11", this happens when Otter #11 does a misleading TV commercial for Flat Sail Marine Industries, which imports seafood from China and tries to pass it off as domestic. Ultimately, however, the commercials work because people think they're funny, rather than their being fooled by the exact words.
--->'''Otter #11''': Sir, is this okay? Saying "this country's clams are delicious."\\
'''President''': "This country" means China. We didn't say it was Japan.
** Near the start of the series, Eiji Nizuma asks for the right to cancel one series if his manga reaches the top of the rankings. Everyone assumes that he'd want to cancel a rival series or one he didn't like, but [[spoiler:he actually wants to end his own series at the height of its popularity]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** In a flashback, young Uryuu asks his father to train him in using his [[MageMarksman Quincy powers]], only for Ryuken to make his distaste of Quincy clear and to reply "I have no interest, you have no talent". Uryuu is shocked when his father display these powers later in the manga to save his life, and Ryuken points out that he never said he didn't ''have'' powers, just that he had no ''interest'' in actually using them.
** Uryuu's moniker as the last Qunicy falls into this on two counts: He is the last ''practicing'' Quincy (Ryuken's situation is as mentioned above and [[spoiler:Ichigo didn't know he was using them to begin with]]) and he's the last ''living'' Quincy, as [[spoiler:the Wandenreich are spirits hiding in the shadows of the Soul Society.]]
** When Yamamoto orders Kenpachi and Byakuya to drag Hitsugaya's Advance Squad back to Soul Society so they can't help Ichigo rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo, Byakuya uses this trope to commit LoopholeAbuse on Yamamoto's order. Since Yamamoto only ordered them to bring the shinigami back to Soul Society, Byakuya does precisely that... then promptly helps Renji and Rukia return to the World of the Living so they can go after Ichigo's group.
** In anime filler, Byakuya admits to Muramasa and the rebelling zanpakutou that he's helping them to protect his pride. [[spoiler: Helping them is the only way he can locate Muramasa's master, Kouga, who was expelled from the Kuchiki family for dishonouring the family name. By killing Kouga, Byakuya can restore the family's pride and honour.]]
*** It gains further meaning in light of his fight with Zomari, in which he states that he sought to kill said Arrancar because Zomari pointed his blade at "my only pride", a.k.a. Rukia.
** Suì-Fēng's shikai kills anyone hit in the same spot twice. The only time she actually uses this ability, she reveals that she doesn't have to stab her victim in the same spot, she just has to have the wounds overlap, which she does by first stabbing her enemy from the front then from behind.
** It's repeatedly mentioned that Yhwach doesn't like fighting or conflict. This does not mean he doesn't like ''violence'', just that he likes to kill people in such a way that [[CurbStompBattle they can't fight back]].
** For that matter, the Sternritter exist solely for Yhwach's sake. They take this to mean that they exist to fight for him and enact his will by slaughtering his enemies, but [[OldSoldier Robert Accutrone]] knows better.
--->'''Robert Accutrone:''' The Sternritter exist for His Majesty! His Majesty despises lies. There is not an ounce of falseness in the reason for our existence. Sternritter who are deemed unnecessary... [[spoiler:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness become fuel]] for His Majesty's [[ThePurge Auswählen]]]]!
** In the anime, [[ColdSniper Lille]] explains The X-Axis to Squad Zero as a force that pierces through anything between his gun and his target. Oetsu tries to take advantage of this by positioning himself such that shooting him would also hit [[BigBad Yhwach]], but Lille goes for it anyway and Yhwach is unscathed. He then reiterates that The X-Axis pierces anything between his gun and ''his target'', which in this case is Oetsu.
* In ''Manga/BokuraNoHentai'', Akane asks Satoshi who he has a crush on. She asks if he likes "Yuuta" but Satoshi says he doesn't, which disappoints Marika because she thought he liked her. When questioned later it's heavily implied Satoshi ''does'' like Marika. Akane uses Marika's [[UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} dead name]] however Satoshi doesn't see Marika as "Yuuta".
* ''Manga/CallOfTheNight'':
** Niko repeatedly tells Nazuna when discussing her relationship with Yamori that "[[GossipyHens she would prefer to hear some love talk]] and leave it at that". After Yamori starts having doubts about actually becoming a vampire and Nazuna pleads his case to Niko, having previously agreed to turn him within a year or else he would be KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade, she flies into a rage at Nazuna going back on their deal and demands that Nazuna tell her exactly why Yamori is so damn important to her that, among all the humans she's met, he's the only one whose life she would plead for. Once Nazuna is forced to admit that she cares for him on a personal level, Niko keeps her word and leaves it at that, even changing the condition for Yamori's life being spared from "turn him into a vampire" to "[[ShipperOnDeck make him fall in love with you]]" (which, being a condition for vampirization, [[DistinctionWithoutADifference is virtually no different]]).
** Kiku laments whenever she makes a new offspring, even though "she wasn't planning to". She also only sucks the blood of those who love her, and [[ReallyGetsAround has more offspring than any known vampire]]. Yamori finds this contradiction confusing at first, until much later it is speculated that [[spoiler:if a vampire sucks the blood of a human they've fallen in love with, that human will die]]. Yamori and his friends then realize Kiku's goal: [[spoiler:she sucks blood in the hopes that one of her would-be offspring dies [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove in order to prove to herself that her feelings for them are real]]]].
* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Whenever a devil offers a [[DealWithTheDevil contract]], it must abide by the contract, but only ''exactly'' as agreed on. Furthermore, it only counts as a contract if that exact wording is used; devils are not bound by casual agreements. This becomes a plot point in the other direction [[spoiler:in regards to Denji's contract with Pochita. Pochita just wanted Denji to live, and offered him his own heart in exchange for watching Denji live a normal life. Pochita had no problem letting Denji live his life however he wanted. However Makima deduced that this ''was'' a genuine contract, and the "normal life" was based on Denji's perceptions. So she gave him a normal life--a job, a place to live, a cool older brother and a bratty younger sister--so that she could rip it all away from him, breaking the contract. Pochita ends up in control of Denji's body against ''both'' of their wills, and Pochita then desperately tries to do normal things in full Chainsaw Devil form in an attempt to reestablish the contract and bring Denji back]].
* In ''Anime/{{Charlotte}}'', when Yuu is at his lowest point after [[spoiler:his little sister's death]], Nao, who'd been watching him for some time, finally intervenes and asks to bring him back to the school, only for him to rebuff her. She then asks him to eat a hot meal, and they make a deal- if he takes one bite, they won't have anything to do with each other again. It turns out that the meal is [[spoiler:the omelet rice his sister always made for him, which was based off of a recipe their mother once made]], and Yuu, after eating it all, comes to his senses. He then reminds Nao of their promise, and she says that since he took more than one bite, it doesn't apply.
* ''Manga/CityHunter'':
** Should the client's payment for [[HandsomeLech Ryo]]'s service involving Ryo having his way with her and the client means it, there will be some caveat from said client that Ryo isn't made aware of until he finds out too late to circumvent (assuming that he ''would be able to'' circumvent said caveat in the first place if he knew earlier), ensuring that FailureIsTheOnlyOption.
** When Ryo is tasked with protecting a young woman and a boy, who are on the run from agents of a foreign country that attempt to seize them, the boy catches Ryo attempting to take a peek at the woman while she's bathing, and, in the ensuing discussion, mentions to Ryo about her busty and curvy physique. When Ryo accuses him of peeking at her, the boy denies... and then proves himself technically right as he goes inside the bathroom with a loud announcement, followed by her washing him behind closed door. The sheer extent of what he can get away with causes Ryo to be filled with envy.
--->'''Ryo''': I... I want to be a kid!
** Near the end of Kazue's arc, Ryo traps the culprit, his son, and their guards in a room before siccing the [[ScaryStingingSwarm killer bees]] that belong to said culprit on them. After they're stung, Ryo makes them promise that they'd neither manufacture nor distribute bioweapons ever again as condition for agreeing to "let them live" by giving them the antidote. What no one else (including Kaori, Doc, and Kazue) knows is that Ryo's promise to "let them live" extends only to their lives, not their capacity for procreation -- [[TheLoinsSleepTonight the antidote Ryo gives them is the initial type that causes permanent impotence as its side effect.]]
** Umibozu once requests Ryo to protect Maki Himuro, the daughter of his commander in his mercenary days. After the service is concluded, Umibozu pays Ryo, but not in the form of money -- it comes in ''200 bottles of bourbon'' instead, much to the chagrin of both Ryo and Kaori.
--->'''Kaori''': You should be ashamed, drinking so early in the day!\\
'''Ryo''': (chugging from a bottle of bourbon) What else am I supposed to do?\\
'''Kaori''': Why didn't you talk to Umibozu clearly about the salary?\\
'''Ryo''': But I did tell him, including the cost of the repairs! The total is 2 million yen.\\
''(the next panel shows a mountain of boxes, one of which Ryo is sitting on, while the discussion ensues)''\\
'''Kaori''': Then what's this mountain of bourbon doing here?! The floor is about to give in, and we just fixed it!\\
'''Ryo''': That idiot sent us 200 bottles of bourbon as payment!
** At the end of an arc in which Ryo bodyguards a princess, said princess spends a day sightseeing Tokyo with Ryo. As the princess is about to leave, Kaori asks Ryo whether he did anything to her. Ryo responds with "I didn't do anything." He's technically right -- he and the princess share a kiss at the end of their sightseeing, but the princess was the one making the move.
** Earlier in the same princess-bodyguarding arc, her lady-in-waiting promises Ryo a harem, on the condition that he not touch her even once, and she makes it her business to remind Ryo of that every time he's close to touching the princess. At the end of the arc, Kaori hands Ryo his reward for living up to his end of the condition... it turns out to be some complimentary tickets to Hotel Harem, much to Ryo's immense chagrin.[[note]] It also doubles as a BrickJoke, as said lady-in-waiting keeps reminding Ryo by saying "harem" every time he's about to touch the princess, and Ryo at one point jumps at the sound of "harem", only to turn around and witness some random stranger talking about "Hotel Harem", which is on the same block they're on at the time.[[/note]]
--->'''Ryo''': (tossing stones at the departing and out-of-range airplane) So you've been screwing with me till the end?! Fucking brat!
** After a sabotaged airplane rams into Ryo and Kaori's apartment and [[ClingyJealousGirl Kaori]] [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud insists on having Ryo sleep with him, loudly and in public without her meaning to]], Ryo and Kaori sleep in Ryo's room... but Ryo is ExiledToTheCouch while Kaori occupies the bed, as the result of this trope.
--->'''Ryo''': What a... coldhearted witch you are.\\
'''Kaori''': I said I'll sleep together with you. I never said anything about sleeping in the same bed.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'':
** [[spoiler:Schneizel]] is given the Geass command to [[spoiler:"serve Zero"]]. The fact that the command said [[spoiler:Zero]] and not [[spoiler:Lelouch]] is very important, because [[spoiler:[[LegacyCharacter "Zero" is an identity that more than one person can possess]]]].
** Earlier, [[spoiler:Mao]] survives Lelouch's attempt on his life because [[spoiler:Lelouch ordered the Britannian police to "shoot" Mao, not "kill" him, and, as a result, Mao gets better by the next episode.]] It doesn't explain how he survives [[spoiler:several dozen gunshot wounds including from a [[HumongousMecha Knightpolice]] unit]] (he points out that medicine these days is extremely advanced). In the manga, however, [[spoiler:getting gunned down]] [[DeathByAdaptation does indeed kill]] [[spoiler:Mao]].
** When Arthur the cat steals the Zero mask, Milly promises a kiss from a Student Council member to the person who manages to retrieve it. The school goes nuts chasing the cat in the hopes of getting a kiss from their favored Council member, but when Suzaku gets it (and Lelouch helps save his life), Lelouch's little sister Nunnally gives each of them a peck on the cheek and says "I hope a junior member is good enough for you."
* An example in ''Manga/CoolShockBT'': BT tells Akagawa that "I saw Kuroyama putting a bug in your clothes". What he meant was "I saw Kuroyama putting a dragonfly in your shorts. What, you thought I was talking about the very aggressive wasp that stung you? The one ''I'' put in your pockets?".
* In ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'', a Mina imposter has taken control of the Bund, and even after the inhabitants of the island have figured it out, the blood pact still forces them to obey her. When Akira figures it out and goes off to rescue the real Mina, the fake orders them to find and capture Akira. However her failure to specify "Half-German Werewolf by that name" means that they knowingly expend thousands of man-hours and vast amounts of equipment digging a half-Brazilian vampire named Akira out of his hiding place beneath the Bund.
* Early in ''Manga/DeathNote'', Ryuk informs Light that a Death Note user [[BarredFromTheAfterlife will never go to Heaven or Hell]]. [[spoiler:A flashback towards the end of the series shows that upon hearing this Light immediately figured that ''nobody'' does. Heaven and Hell don't exist, and CessationOfExistence is the only fate for anyone who dies.]]
* In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', while the main group is off seeing Zhuqiaomon, Kazu tells his partner Guardromon to watch Suzie. Later on, Suzie's digivice pulls her into the battle, and when Kazu calls Guardromon out for not doing anything about it, reiterating that he was supposed to be watching her, Guadromon's response is "I was, I watched the whole thing", much to Kazu's annoyance. In the original Japanese version, the exact words he singles on to justify not doing anything is being told to keep a "close watch".
* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}''
** In ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasDinosaur'', When Nobita's mother Tamako realizes food in the larder has gone missing and is questioning if Nobita's been sneaking stray animals into the house, Nobita insists he's not hiding any stray cats or dogs, which is true....
---> '''Tamako''': Are you hiding any stray animals without my permission?\\
'''Nobita''': No! I promise, I'm not hiding any cats or dogs!\\
[''shortly after Tamako left'']\\
'''Nobita''': She's going to freak out if I told her I'm hiding a ''dinosaur''.
** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasNewDinosaur'', being a loose remake of the above, repeats the same joke. Except Nobita is hiding ''[[SequelEscalation two]]'' stray dinosaurs.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** At the end of the Frieza Saga, this works against the heroes when they use the Earth Dragon Balls to summon Shenron and wish for everyone killed by Frieza and his minions to be revived, and then the Namek Dragon Balls are used to summon Porunga and wish to send everyone on Namek except Goku and Frieza to Earth. Afterward, the Namekians are confused that one of their elders and his village aren't among them. Vegeta then smugly points out that Frieza and his minions didn't kill those people. ''He'' did, and the wording of the wish thus excluded those victims since Vegeta had already deserted from Frieza's army before killing them. Another glitch in the wording of the wish that never gets brought up in canon is that Frieza also [[BadBoss killed several of his own minions on Namek]], meaning that they should therefore be alive on Earth after the wishes, as well as Nappa remaining dead even though he was killed by Vegeta while still under Frieza's command (this one gets rectified in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''.)
*** The fact that some of Frieza's minions would've been revived finally ''does'' come up decades later, both in-universe and out, in the Moro arc of ''Manga/DragonBallSuper''.
** Prior to that, when Gohan, Krillin, and Dende use Porunga to revive Piccolo, they also have him sent to Namek, only to be surprised when he doesn't show up right next to them. As it turns out, Piccolo appeared pretty far away because they didn't actually specify ''where'' on Namek to send him, so Piccolo has to spend a few episodes flying over to them before he can join the fight. This does end up working out in their favor, though, as Piccolo happens upon a dying Nail, who fuses with Piccolo to boost his power and give him firsthand knowledge of Frieza's fighting style.
** For a Saiyan to become a Super Saiyan their heart needs to be pure. Son Goku, the protagonist, is the first to achieve this as he has not a speck of evil in his heart. Some time later his greatest rival Vegeta, a villain, also becomes a Super Saiyan since his heart is [[PureIsNotGood pure evil]]. Vegeta [[NobleDemon wasn't really pure evil anymore]] [[HeelFaceTurn by that point]], but he ''believed'' he was and apparently that was close enough.
** Parodied in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', where Vegeta says he is [[DareToBeBadass "pure badass."]] Tien counters that he's "pure ego".
** In the same saga, the heroes demanded Androids 19 and 20 fight them somewhere deserted to avoid bystanders getting in the way. 20 decided to ''make'' a deserted area by vaporizing half the city with his EyeBeams.
--->'''Goku''': ''Leave these people out of this!''\\
'''19''': There are no more people left to leave out.\\
'''20''': I cleared the area of innocents, in accordance with ''your'' wishes. Do you disagree with my methods?
** During the Buu Saga, Super Buu shows up on Kami's Lookout demanding the WorthyOpponent Goku promised him ([[FusionDance Gotenks]]), but Super Buu arrives while Gotenks is still training in the hyperbaric time chamber. Piccolo, in an attempt to stall for time, suggests that Super Buu pass the time it'll take for Gotenks to get ready to give him a real fight by killing all of the humans still left on Earth[[note]]A WhatTheHellHero moment until one remembers that the Dragon Balls can be used to bring everyone back, and they'd be doomed anyway if Gotenks lost the fight due to being underprepared[[/note]]. Buu proceeds to use a BeamSpam technique he calls the [[KillAllHumans Human Extinction Attack]] to wipe out every last human on Earth in less than five minutes, ''without even bothering to leave the Lookout in the process'', after which he demands to see his opponent with no further distractions.
** This Trope benefits the heroes in the ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' movie. Beerus makes a statement that if no one can defeat him in combat, he will destroy Earth. Later, however, he seems to regret saying that and wants to spare Earth from destruction regardless, but states that now that he's stated his condition, he must abide by it as a matter of honor. Goku cannot defeat him, but still gave him an excellent battle, so he simply destroys one rock on Earth's surface, then claims that he's too tired right now to do the rest of it, and he'll come back in a few million years to finish the job. (See, he never specified ''when'' he would destroy Earth, so he's still keeping to the letter of his threat, if not the spirit.) Even [[IdiotHero Goku]] immediately recognizes this excuse for what it is.
--->'''Whis:''' Well look at that, Lord Beerus. You destroyed Earth like you said you would...just not very much of it.\\
'''Beerus:''' Yes, it's really a shame, isn't it? I must've used up all my strength in the fight. Guess I'll just have to come back another time and finish destroying the rest.\\
'''Goku:''' Thanks, Lord Beerus.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Vados always exploits this against Champa, because she knows he's very dim-witted when it comes to giving her commands that can be abused with [[LoopholeAbuse loopholes]].
* In ''Manga/EatMan'', the main character, [[MeaningfulName Bolt Crank]], will often take jobs from clearly evil people, only to later exploit extremely literal wordings in his contracts to mess up his contractors. Case in point: Bolt takes a contract from a group of greedy people to protect a girl whose blood is a potion of youth for a certain period of time. Bolt protects her... from those exact people.
* In ''Literature/FateZero'', [[spoiler:Emiya Kiritsugu uses a magically-binding contract to guarantee he won't attack fellow Master Kayneth El-Melloi, on the condition that Kayneth retire from the Holy Grail War (forcing his own Servant, Lancer, to commit suicide in the process). However, this contract doesn't prevent Kiritsugu's partner, Maiya, from killing Kayneth El-Melloi and his fiancée. When Kayneth doesn't die from the first shot and is left bleeding, crippled, and in immense pain, he begs Kiritsugu to grant him a MercyKill, only for Kiritsugu to refuse [[KickTheDog since their contract forbids him from attacking Kayneth]].]]
* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' has Kenshiro abuse this trope to inflict punishment on some deserving thugs [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xul39X2rMGc in the anime]]. A member of Raoh’s army is rounding up men to engage in a primitive BloodSport for his amusement, and one of the thugs in charge happens to tell a disguised Kenshiro to "Kill whomever you want! Punch them, kick them, throw them!" Naturally, Kenshiro proceeds to punch and kick the bandit who just spoke to him. When the bandit demands to be put down quickly, Kenshiro also complies. By dropping him [[GroinAttack onto his knee]]...so violently that [[YourHeadASplode his head explodes.]] Doubles as a {{Pun}} in the English translation, since 'put down' can mean 'release,' but can also be taken to mean 'kill' when applied to animals such as rabid dogs, which Kenshiro compares thugs to on a regular basis.
** Another, less happy one is during the Golan arc. A platoon of Golan soldiers are waiting for Kenshiro to come to them and decide to kill their hostages, a married couple. The man begs for his wife’s mercy, which the head of the platoon grants... by killing the man. Then, when Kenshiro does arrive, they release the woman... and kill her anyway because with her husband dead, his words mean nothing. Naturally, Kenshiro ensures that the Golan soldiers don’t live to tell the tale.
* In one episode of ''Manga/FoodWars'', students are tasked with cooking a dish in a kitchen that has nearly no ingredients. The teacher points out that they're on private land, and gives them permission to take anything within a fenced confine. The intent was of course to have the students go out and harvest their own ingredients, but Soma also exploits the wording to take the teacher's crunchy snack (which he crushed and used as breading).
* In ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', when Haru [[LoveConfession asks Rin if she wants to kiss him]], she replied that they [[StarCrossedLovers can't]]. Haru notices that she deflected the question instead of answering 'yes' or 'no', and follows up with a more direct one. [[ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt To which the answer is yes.]]
* In ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'', The BigBad Father himself claims that "Those who dare to play God must pay a steep price for their arrogance." Later, when ''he'' does this and is defeated, the Truth reminds him of this statement and makes him pay a steep price for his arrogance: his ultimate punishment is being sent back to the hell he was born from.
** When a Ishvallan refugee caring for Scar notes the elaborate tattoo on his right arm, Scar says that he got it from his brother. [[spoiler:He means that he got the arm from his brother, who transplanted his own arm onto to Scar after Scar's own arm was destroyed.]]
** In the first episode of the ''Brotherhood'' anime, a minor StarterVillain named [=McDougal=] tries to use alchemy to freeze Central. When the Elrics ask why he’s doing so, [=McDougal=] shouts "Have you seen the shape this country’s in?", but is interrupted before he can elaborate. He’s seemingly referring to the geopolitical status of Amestris and the recent war it went through. [[spoiler:He’s really talking about the country’s actual, ''physical'' shape: Amestris is a giant-scale transmutation circle. [=McDougal=] was trying to freeze Central to disrupt that circle and stop Father’s plan to sacrifice the entire country to attain godhood.]]
* In the Bentendo Owee arc of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', Kondo and Katsura compete against each other in a dating simulator, with the announcer stating that whoever "bonks" the heroine first will be declared the victor. Kondo takes it figuratively and fails get anywhere at all due to how utterly nonsensical the game is compared to ones he's played in the past, but [[CloudCuckooLander Katsura]] decides to take it literally by pursuing a story path that led to him murdering the heroine by hitting her in the head, [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight which ended up getting him the win.]]
* In the first episode of ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'', Miho is called the student council's room due to her objection to selecting tankery as her elective, with StudentCouncilPresident Anzu given her what sounds like a threat of expulsion if she doesn't take it: "if you don't tankery, it can be arranged for you to not return to the school next year." Miho eventually chooses to take tankery because her friends, who did want to take it, threaten to drop it in a show of solidarity for her. Several episodes later, after the Ooarai team makes it into the national semi-finals, we learn that the school is in danger of being shut down if they don't win the tournament, which would naturally prevent Miho from attending next year.
* ''Manga/Golgo13'': In "Sharp Shoot on the G String", a disgraced violinist, Thomas Simpson, hires Golgo to shoot out the G string on the violin of a rival, Sergei Kerensky, with the intent of humiliating him in the same way he was when the G string of his violin snapped in mid-performance. Golgo, [[WorldsBestWarrior being Golgo]], carries out the mission he was given and shoots the G string of Kerensky's violin in mid-performance. Rather than suffer a breakdown like Simpson did, however, Kerensky calmly adjusted his violin's remaining strings to compensate, preserving his reputation while Simpson watches in utter shock. Not that it concerns Golgo: he was hired to shoot the string, and he shot the string, nothing more and nothing less.
* In the ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' novels, this is how Kyon figures out the mystery in Remote Island Syndrome. [[spoiler:Koizumi asked Yuki what the victim's body temperature was when they found him. He could have just asked "when did he die?" but didn't, since he knew she'd answer "he's not dead"]]. The anime went in a slightly different direction.
** Nagato takes Haruhi's instructions not to let anyone in the room literally. Kyon suspects that it's ObfuscatingStupidity, as he's come to realize that Nagato has a particularly dry sense of humor, and uses her feelings for him to relent.
* In one episode of ''Manga/HeIsMyMaster'', Izumi's youngest sister agreed to give the pervert Yoshitaka one thing he wanted. When he told her to wait until he decided what he wanted, she [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments took this order for the thing he wanted]].
* In ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'':
** Daryun's uncle Vahriz early on requested that Daryun swear fealty to Prince Arslan directly, not the royal family. Daryun obliged, though confused by this request. It's later revealed that Vahriz knew [[spoiler: Arslan was not Andragoras or Tamahine's son and it's implied he suspected Hilmes was still alive.]] Thus Daryun could defy any order from Andragoras or [[spoiler: Hilmes]] because he is not sworn to them.
** Narsus, despite serving as Arslan's ''de facto'' adviser and chancellor since the beginning, would simply hand over (for now) the role of chancellor to the newcomer but most senior Lord Lucian. After all, his "official commission" from Arslan when he joined is "court painter".
** Rajendra promised his dying father that he would not kill his brother Gadhevi if he turned himself in willingly. Since [[spoiler: Gadhevi's wife drugged Gadhevi to bring him in]], Rajendra is able to go around his promise and execute his brother.
* ''Manga/IThinkOurSonIsGay'': Hiroki is normally a BadLiar, but when his friends question him about who he has a crush on, he gives a description that's truthful but avoids revealing that his crush is his male classmate Daigo.
* In ''Manga/InterspeciesReviewers'', a demon uses marriage as an example of how demons deal with [[DealWithTheDevil poorly worded contracts]]. For example, if the husband says, "I'll promise to make you happy! Please marry me!", the demon will become a lazy wife who forces her husband to do whatever she demands. However, if the husband were to say, "Let's get married and be happy together", the same demon would become an amazing wife who always supports her husband. However, she'll be a neglectful ''mother'' if they have any children, since the intial agreement only covered the two of them.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** A [[KickTheDog particularly cruel instance]] of this trope occurs in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'': [[BigBad Dio Brando]] confronts a woman and her child with the intent of turning them into zombies. The mother begs Dio to spare her child if she willingly lets herself be zombified. Dio agrees, and turns her into a zombie... a ''hungry, flesh-eating'' zombie [[EatsBabies who promptly eats the baby herself]].
** During his video game battle with Telence T. D'arby in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', Jotaro plays a baseball game against his opponent [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame with his and his friend Kakyoin's soul on the line]]. Since Telence is not only a GodlikeGamer, but also able to read his opponent's soul using the ability of his Stand, Atum, and Jotaro barely ever plays video games on his own, this starts off with Jotaro on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle. Then Jotaro announces what pitch he's about to throw: when Atum reads his soul, it says he's telling the truth, yet he ends up throwing a different pitch somehow. After several missed swings, Telence has a VillainousBreakdown, at which point Jotaro's trickery is revealed: [[spoiler:he was telling the truth when he announced his pitch, but his teammate ''Joseph'' was using his own Stand, Hermit Purple, to manipulate the game's controls and throw a different pitch instead]].
** Near the end of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', [[spoiler: the BigBad Yoshikage Kira activates a new bomb, Bites The Dust, which enables him to eliminate witnesses by using Hayato Kawajiri as his proxy, killing anyone who discovers Kira's identity by him, or eliminating those whom Hayato himself tells the fact, after which the morning repeats. However, this ability doesn't trigger if Kira himself is the one who reveals his own identity, so Hayato manipulates him into saying his name while [[TheHero Josuke]] is within earshot, forcing Kira to undo Bites The Dust before the loop resets to defend himself when Josuke attacks him.]]
** ''Manga/SteelBallRun'''s BigBad, Funny Valentine, promises to make a chauffeur's wasp stings disappear, by banishing him to another dimension. He never said that the rest of him wouldn't disappear alongside the stings.
* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'':
** Early on in the series, when Shirogane is asked for love advice, he boasts that he's never been rejected. The narrator points out that this is true... because he's never asked anyone out.
** Shirogane mentions that he doesn't have a girlfriend "right now" to honestly state that he's not in a relationship, but dishonestly imply that he has been in relationships before.
** When one of Hayasaka's friends compliments [[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself how convincing her maid act is]] when their class does a cosplay cafe for the culture festival, she says that she spent a long time getting the role perfect, neglecting to mention [[LegacyOfService just how long]] she's been practicing.
** Kaguya does this in chapter 163 as part of a SarcasticConfession regarding [[spoiler:her dating Shirogane]] by holding up a sign Fujiwara made for revealing pranks. The rest of the student council assumes she was just messing with them, but savvy readers will note that she never actually ''says'' that it was a prank, nor does she ever deny that her statement was true.
** In Chapter 191, Shirogane's father becomes a successful [=YouTuber=] who sees an influx of ¥10000 donations [[FavorsForTheSexy whenever Kei walks by on camera during his streams]]. During an omake at the end of the chapter, Kei tries to convince the watchers not to spend so much money on her, with the very next Super Chat message being "Ok. Saving money." and a donation of ¥9999.
* In ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'', after exposing Ohtsuki's [[spoiler:4-5-6 dice]], Ohtsuki tries to desperately grasp a way to not lose and says that since his last roll was interrupted by TheReveal, the dice didn't count, so he ''technically'' wasn't cheating. Kaiji offers him that last roll as a 4, saying that each of his cohorts will also roll trick dice. Ohtsuki accepts, thinking at most he'll only lose 1 million. [[spoiler:Using a t-bone, Kaiji made a set of dice covered in ones. Meaning every roll will be snake eyes, resulting in a 5x payout to the roller.]] Ohtsuki is in no position to retort against this.
* ''Manga/KongohBancho'' ''loves'' this trope. People tell Kongoh not to do something, ranging from "don't open that door" to "don't move your arms, legs, or [[RunningGag head]]." He follows the orders to the letter, and still ends up causing lots of damage.
* ''Literature/KonoSuba'':
** The plot starts with one of these. Our AntiHero Kazuma dies and decides to reincarnate into another world, and is allowed to pick out one "cheat" item or power from any that are laid out before him. However, Aqua, the goddess in charge of his reincarnation, makes fun of how [[UndignifiedDeath stupid]] his death was and acts rude towards him in general. Thus, after confirming that he's allowed to pick anything before him, spitefully picks Aqua as his "cheat". Heaven fulfils this request and thus Aqua is forcefully dragged with him to the other world until he fulfils his mission of defeating the Demon King. However, Kazuma soon regrets it, as he learns that Aqua is an [[ItsAllAboutMe extremely]] [[TheHedonist unpleasant]] [[LoserDeity person]] who is [[TheDitz heavily lacking in the intelligence department]].
** Kazuma later finds himself having to carefully pick his words when interrogated via a magical LieDetector. Chiefly, when he absentmindedly affirms not to be acquainted with any of the Demon King's generals, the lie detector is set off because Kazuma forgot that, even if she doesn't really fight on his behalf anymore, Wiz is still an acting general in the Demon King's army and her power is still being used to maintain the barrier in the Demon King's castle.
* In ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime1999'', when Link is struggling to adjust to Hyrule Castle Town, a girl promises to show him Princess Zelda if he plays with her for a day. Link does not know at the time that the girl is Princess Zelda herself.
* In ''Literature/LordMarksmanAndVanadis'' Tir Na Fal tested Tigre by getting him to shoot Titta as a condition for gaining more power. Tigre did so but used the bow's power to destroy the arrow before it could fatally penetrate Titta.
* In ''Anime/LostorageIncitedWIXOSS'', Suzuko Homura's LRIG has the ability to make the opponents answer any question Suzuko asks honestly when Suzuko bets one of her coins. At one point Suzuko has to battle against her new friend Hanna, and uses her Honest ability on her after Hanna used her own ability to cover the field in fog. Hanna takes a moment to reflect on the wording of Suzuko's question of whether there are any traps in her cards, answering that there are, but not specifying whether those cards are currently on the field or in her hand. Suzuko interprets it as the former, and ends her turn without attacking, which ends up costing her the win. Suzuko clearly learns from this experience as in similar situations in later battles in the series and in ''Lostorage Conflated [=WIXOSS=], Suzuko makes sure to specifically ask if the traps are on the field or not.
* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'':
** Maria mentions to Okaya that she knows he wants to follow in his father's footsteps, that she was acquainted with his mother and that she knows how she used to address him, before offhandedly adding that "the nurse in the infirmary knows everything." To an outsider this might simply mean that, being the SchoolNurse, she hears a lot of things about people. [[DramaticIrony What Okaya doesn't know]] is that Maria knows everything ''about him and his friends specifically'', since [[StalkerWithoutACrush she's spent the last two years investigating them]] so that [[KnightTemplarParent she can murder them for killing her son]].
** After stuffing Kowase in a DrowningPit, Maria tells him that he can unlock the cuff holding him in place if he inputs the number representing his greatest sin. Kowase guesses that she's talking about [[PlotTriggeringDeath the death of Kiritaka two years ago]], but not only [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he can't even remember the date]], [[spoiler:the real password is [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish Kowase's own birth date]], since Maria considers ''the very fact that he was born'' to be "his greatest sin"]].
* In ''Miss Bernard Said'', Sawako Machida, a KnowNothingKnowItAll when it comes to literature, lampshades this trope in Episode 6. She says that when it comes to the science fiction ranking list, she likes to say that she "hasn't even read half of" the books on the list. Her intent is to give the impression that she's making progress toward that milestone, when she hasn't read any of the books on that list.
-->"How's that? I self-deprecatingly admit I haven't read them, but subtly give the impression that I've read 40%. But I've actually read zero! [[LampshadeHanging Zero fits in the expression 'I haven't even read half!' It's a trick you play with words!]]"
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', this trope is used with ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight. During Operation Spitbreak, the ''Archangel'' is under fire from ZAFT forces that the latter is breaking into JOSH-A. They're trying to get help from the Earth Alliance, but they're just getting canned responses. When Mu La Flaga returns to the ''Archangel'' and warns them that a Cyclops System has been armed for the express purpose of nuking as many ZAFT forces as possible and [[WeHaveReserves everyone left over is bait]], Captain Murrue Ramius decides that since they've successfully lured ZAFT here, their mission of being bait is done, so [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere it's time to abandon the battlefield.]]
* In a ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'' flashback chapter, one of Sakura's classmates asks her to stop mentioning her [[SingleTargetSexuality only crush]] Nozaki, so she starts referring to him in epithets, like "the ex-basketball club member" or "the person in seat 14 in classroom A". Her classmate quickly surrenders.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** Shin Nemoto, a member of the Shie Hassaikai has a Quirk called Confession, which forces anyone he asks a question to answer truthfully. This screws the organization over when [[spoiler:he asks the new recruits Himiko Toga and Twice (from the League of Villains) if Tomura Shigaraki told them to betray the Yakuza, which they both answer that they weren't told to. They were actually going to betray them anyway out of their own volition out of revenge for the murder of Magne, and Shigaraki expected them to do this, so he didn't even bother actually giving the order.]]
** Star and Stripe is killed because of this. She had a Quirk called “New Order” that [[RealityWarper let her impose rules on reality]]. During her fight with Shigaraki, she gave an order “If Tomura Shigaraki moves, his heart will stop.” The trouble was, [[spoiler:Shigaraki had been taken over by All for One and he was [[MergerOfSouls merging their consciousnesses]]. They had become a new person that didn’t count as Shigaraki anymore]].
* ''Anime/MyHime'' gives us Nagi Homura, who tells the girls truthful things, like, "If you accept the power, you'll have to risk what's most important to you." He never said it was their own lives, simply letting them make that inference themselves. In truth, it's the life of the person they love most. And when the Carnival begins, he tells them they don't have to kill each other, just defeat each other's CHILD. Natsuki calls him on that, as she's learned the truth from Akane, who found out the hard way after a rival conspiracy took out her CHILD, and thus her boyfriend Kazuya, early in the game. Basically, Nagi lies by omission, but his spoken words are true.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', as the Sound Four are debating whether to approach Sasuke with Kakashi around, Sakon says that he thinks "the two of us" can handle Kakashi, only for Tayuya to angrily tell him to butt out. One might assume Sakon means himself and Tayuya, but he actually means himself and his twin brother Ukon, who can share a body with him.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** For Negi's apprenticeship test, Eva gave the conditions "If you can hit Chachamaru even once with your Kung Fu, then you'll pass. The match continues until you're dead and you can't attack anymore." This backfires on her when she declares the match over after Negi was completely thrashed, [[{{Determinator}} only for him to stand back up]], stating that there's essentially no time limit since the condition was "until I die".
** It happens again later, when Setsuna says that she can't use the "Shinmeiryuu Hidden Technique, Zanmaken: Ni no Tachi" because only people close to the founding clan of the Shinmeiryuu are allowed to learn it. [[BoisterousBruiser Jack Rakan]] gets around this restriction by renaming the attack: [[spoiler: In Celebration of my First Kiss with Ojou-sama Special!]] Setsuna is (understandably) hesitant about using Jack Rakan's particular version.
* In episode 9 of ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', Tomoko wishes on a meteor shower for a boy to be with her. Shortly afterwards, she discovers that the cat that showed up is a male. Never said anything about a ''human'' male, after all…
* In the manga ''Manga/NotLives'', a group event occurs pitting several individuals against a powerful opponent that seeks to kill them using manipulated mannequins. At the beginning of the game the "queen" tells the participants to look at a clock tower that reads 12:00 and tells them that the game will end when the short hand hits the 2. Everyone assumes that this means the game will be two hours long, and not having time to check the clock they opt to track the time in their own ways. Only after two hours pass do they realize the trick. [[spoiler: The battles take place in a reality in which time has come to a standstill. The short hand will never reach the 2 simply by time passing because time does not pass in that world. The only way to end the game is to rip that short hand off and stab it into the 2.]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Arlong promised Nami that if she brought him 100,000,000 Berries (the currency of the One Piece world), he would liberate her village. And it actually seems that he intended to keep his promise if she would one day present him with all that money. However, he never promised her that he would not steal all her saved money from her before she had collected all 100,000,000 Berries. And since he doesn't want to give away his rule over the village, that's exactly what he hires Nezumi, a corrupt Marine officer, to do right before she has actually saved up enough money. Nami realizes what happened because Nezumi makes the mistake of mentioning the exact amount of money. When a furious Nami confronts Arlong over breaking his promise, he grabs her face and calmly asks her to tell him how exactly he broke his promise, {{invok|edTrope}}ing this trope.
** There's the Water 7/Enies Lobby arc, where Robin [[spoiler:betrays the Straw Hats because she knew they'd be exterminated by the [=CP9=] and the "Buster Call" that had been placed under their command if they tried to fight. She gave herself up and willingly went to be executed with the promise that "All Straw Hats minus her would leave Water 7 alive". When they followed her to Enies Lobby, Spandam gave the order to kill them all.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Lucci:''' Our deal was that "All Straw Hats excepting you would leave Water 7 unscratched". And that's what happened.]]
** Later, when Spandam, [[spoiler: Lucci and Robin]] are fleeing the Tower of Justice in a secret passageway, [[spoiler: Lucci notices that Chimney and Gonbe followed them and are hiding in the room. But because he has no love for [[SmugSnake Spandam]] (and possibly [[BloodKnight because he wants to fight Luffy]]), Lucci keeps quiet about it until later, when they've gone to tell Luffy and he's broken into the passageway, explaining that Spandam ordered him only to protect him and nothing more.]]
** This is how Blackbeard escaped from the radar for so long. There was a time when ''he'', not Ace, was offered the post of the Commander of Whitebeard's Second Division, which should have given some idea about his power even pre-Devil Fruit. He rejected the post stating that he didn't have the ambition for the post. Even his bounty, 0 (yes, you read that right) was Blackbeard being BrilliantButLazy. [[spoiler: What Blackbeard ''actually'' meant by that his ambition was much greater than being 'merely' an EliteMook under Whitebeard, his ambition was to become a freaking Emperor and eventually the Pirate King. Of course, once he ditches the deception, Blackbeard went from being a [[FromNobodyToNightmare no name Mook to a rightly feared individual with the power to harness multiple Devil Fruits, and currently has one of the highest known bounties in the series]]. [[note]]It is 2.247 billion belis, if you were wondering. After the Wano arc, it’s become 3.996 billion.[[/note]] ]]
** Also, during the Marineford battle, Hancock attacks pirates and Marines indiscriminately, causing a Marine to ask her whose side she's on. She explains she agreed to fight Whitebeard and never specified that she would ally herself with the Marines, and that any man before her (minus Luffy but they don't know that) is an enemy.
** After Dressrosa, Fujitora is barred from going to any Marine base. He is allowed into the Holy Land with the technicality that, while it’s protected by Marines, it’s not actually a base.
** When Jinbe announces to Big Mom he's leaving her crew and joining the Straw Hats, and allows her to take as much of his life as she can as recompense, as long as she doesn't lay a finger on the other Sun Pirates. Big Mom gleefully agrees to the terms and prepares to take Jinbe's entire lifespan, only to find, to her confusion, she can't. Her soul-stealing powers only work on those who fear her, and Jinbe has no fear of her at all, so the amount of life she ''can'' take from him is... zero.
** In the backstory of the Wano arc, Kozuki Oden and his fellow samurai are sentenced by Kaido to death by boiling in a pot of oil. Oden asks that, if they survive boiling in the pot for one hour, Kaido will let them go free. Knowing there’s no way they’d survive, Kaido agrees. Oden promptly climbs in the oil, grabs a plank of wood and asks his samurai to climb up onto it: he specified the ''pot'', not the ''oil'', and Oden on his own [[MadeOfIron is more than capable of taking the burning]]. Kaido finds this ActuallyPrettyFunny, [[spoiler:and although Orochi promptly sentences Oden to death by firing squad instead, it allows Oden to springboard his allies to safety and turns public opinion against Kaido, allowing the Kozuki clan and the Straw Hats to beat him much, ''much'' later down the line.]]
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
** In ''Anime/{{Pokemon 2000}}'', the last line of TheProphecy reads "Thus, the earth shall turn to Ash." It soon turns out that it's not predicting the end of the world, but rather, it name-drops the person who would save it, none other than [[KidHero Ash Ketchum]].
** In "Guarding the Guardian of the Mountain", after a Pokémon hunter captures a Volcarona, Ash decides to challenge him, with the hunter saying that if Ash can take down his Jellicent, then he'll consider letting the Volcarona free. Ash manages to defeat said Jellicent (a male), only for the hunter to send out another Jellicent (a female). When Ash and co. call the hunter out on this, he replies that he would let Volcarona go if Ash could defeat his Jellicent. [[{{Pluralses}} Pokémon names don't change in the plural]]; he never said he only had one.
** This trope is the reason why May had issues with Professor Birch’s Mudkip in the first episode of ''Pokémon Advanced''. Due to May not using ExactWords on the specific Mudkip (she said "Mudkip, use "Water Gun," and it used it on May rather than the Poocheyena that was chasing Professor Birch), Professor Birch almost gets hurt by the Poocheyena. It takes Professor Birch using ExactWords ("Mudkip, use Water Gun on the Poocheyena!") to save himself.
* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:this is part of Kyubey's way of operating, combined with YouDidntAsk. He never outright lies. When Kyoko asks him if Sayaka can be restored to normal, he says it's never been done before. It's never been done before because it ''can't be done'' ([[Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica at least]], not without some ''extreme'' measures Kyoko had neither the time nor resources to implement, and [[CameBackWrong it wouldn't necessarily be Sayaka]]), but for the purposes of his plan he needed to lure her into trying anyways. He also says that he wouldn't be surprised if a magical girl succeeded in reviving another... except his species can't feel emotions, surprise being one.]]
** In the anime adaptation to the spinoff ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'', [[spoiler:Ui and her friends investigate the relationship between magical girls and witches. After this, they spend an afternoon interviewing Kyubey. Ui asks him what a Soul Gem is. He calls it the "soul of a magical girl". She asks if he means it's "something important", assuming he's being metaphorical. [[SoulJar He isn't]].]]
* This ends up very nearly getting the heroes of ''Manga/RaveMaster'' in trouble. When reviewing his grandfather's notes, Musica sees that the Ten Powers sword Haru uses, which he inherited along with the title of Rave Master from Shiba, was noted as being made "for Shiba". This meant that ''only'' Shiba could access and use all ten forms of the sword to their full power, forcing Musica to get a new tenth form forged specifically for Haru in time for the final fight.
* A rather non-serious example in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': during the fight between Sanosuke and Anji in the Shishio arc, Kenshin gives Sanosuke verbal encouragement. We then get this exchange:
--> '''Yumi:''' Himura-san. That should be a one-on-one battle. You shouldn't be giving him a hand.\\
'''Kenshin:''' Yes. That is exactly why this humble one gave him advice, not a hand.
* In ''Literature/ScrappedPrincess'' it is prophesied that the newly born princess is "the poison that will destroy the world", and she is to be immediately executed. Well, she wasn't. It turns out [[spoiler: that the prophecy is 100% correct if you only look at the situation from outside of the world. Her DNA is the key to unlocking [[FloatingIsland the prison]] that the remnants of humanity are trapped in, thus "destroying" the world they knew and giving them access to a much larger one (the rest of the Earth).]]
* In ''Manga/SeitokaiYakuindomo'', SchoolNewspaperNewsHound Hata learns that the student council are spending the night together at an inn, but promises not to tell anyone else about it in exchange for a can of coffee. The others are then shocked to see photos of them together end up in the following week's newspaper anyway, and confronts her about it. She takes offense to these accusations because she points out that she still hasn't ''said'' it to anyone. She just never promised anything about not publishing the pictures.
* In ''Literature/ASimpleSurvey'' ten players are trapped in a PrisonersDilemma scenario with a two-colored card. If every person shows a red card, they will all die; if every person shows a black card, they will all live; and if different colors are chosen, "only those who chose black will be killed". The players manage to rally and display all black cards [[spoiler:except Higashikawa's card was actually a shade of brown so dark it appears black to the human eye. Because his card was ''not black'', the other nine players are sentenced to die]].
* At one point in ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'', Tatsumi poses as Kagura's tutor, and when the chauffeur picks him up, he asks what happened to Ms. Wakaba, the girl's usual teacher. Tatsumi replies by saying "She got a little tied up", and the scene then cuts to the interior of the school, where poor Ms. Wakaba is seen BoundAndGagged inside a locker.
* ''Literature/TheStrongestSageWithTheWeakestCrest'': Matthias insists Iris, who has at this point just sent a seasoned warrior flying without any apparent effort, is just an "ordinary girl", leaving out that she is an ordinary ''dragon'' girl.
* ''Manga/SuicideIsland'': In the first chapter, patients who have attempted suicide are offered a choice to live on or die. A number of patients choose to die. They sign some papers and are put to sleep with drugs. They regain consciousness and find themselves on the title island. A sign posted nearby by the Japanese government states that everyone on the island is now an UnPerson and essentially "dead" to the government, and they can do whatever they want on this island, as long as they don't try to leave.
* In ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', [[ArcVillain Quinella]], Pontifex of the Axiom Church and Administrator of humanity in the Underworld, swears on the Goddess Stacia to fulfill Chudelkin's request to have sex with her if he defeats the heroes, and Cardinal's request to spare the heroes in exchange for sacrificing herself. Since she doesn't believe in said Goddess, the vows in question are meaningless. Cardinal, however, is intelligent enough to insist that Quinella swear on the only thing she values- [[ItsAllAboutMe Quinella's own Fluctlight]].
* This is one of [[TheGadfly Takagi's]] most potent weapons in ''Manga/TeasingMasterTakagiSan''. For example, when she meets Nishikata after he bought a shoujo manga, she forces him to admit he lied to her out of embarrassment. She then promises not to tell anyone, and offers to tell Nishikata a secret about herself. She tells him she likes him, and follows that up by informing him that since he lied to her, she lied to him. [[spoiler:[[OpenSecret The lie was claiming that her being in love with him was a secret.]]]]
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': [[TortureTechnician Yamori/Jason]] reassures Kaneki that he never tells "boring lies". When Kaneki later calls him on lying, he invokes this trope by pointing out he's having too much fun for it to be a boring lie.
* In ''Anime/VividStrike'', when Fuuka's trying to learn more about [[TheStoic Einhart]] while training, the discussion moves to the master that taught Einhart her Hegemon Style. When Fuuka asks where that master is now, Einhart responds that said master is "In my heart". Fuuka assumes that Einhart meant that the master had passed away, but viewers aware of ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'' knows that Einhart is ambiguously referring to the GeneticMemory she has of [[WarriorPrince Hegemon Claus Ingvalt]].
* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':
** In ''Manga/YuGiOh'', when a SadistTeacher discovers a love letter to a girl in her class, she tells the sender to admit the deed and she [[BlatantLies will let them off if they do]]. Yugi stands up to admit that he wrote the letter and Jonouchi/Joey confesses that he put it in her desk, with Honda/Tristan saying that his feelings were in that letter. The teacher points out that only one of them could have done it but Jonouchi replies that none of them are lying. All three were technically telling the truth. Honda had a crush on the girl and asked Yugi to write the letter and had Jonouchi slip it into her desk.
** Yugi himself does this a few times too. For example, in both the anime and the manga, he taunts Panik (Player Killer of Darkness in the original) with his Swords of Revealing Light card, and then sets a card. When Panik tries to destroy it with his Reaper of the Cards (assuming that it's the Swords card), Yugi reveals it to be Spellbinding Circle. He then tells Panik that he never said it was Swords, he merely ''assumed'' that. Yugi assumed that Panik had a Reaper of the Cards in his Deck, which at that time was one of the few cards in the game that could destroy his spell. The Spellbinding Circle was set to draw Panik's fire, and it succeeded.
** Yami!Yugi gave Shadi journey to his mind when he was searching for the one that stole Pegasus' Millennium Eye, stating that he had nothing to hide. His mind looking like an old temple looking like it was abandoned for millennia. Yugi saved Shadi from falling into a chasm. Later episodes reveal that Yami!Yugi actually had nothing to hide, because he had his memories locked away.
** At one point, Yugi is faced with an illegal card that was hacked to be loaded with overpowered effects, including immunity to destruction and a cost that ''works against the opponent'' by forcing them to discard half their deck. He beats it by [[spoiler: milling his deck until it's down to one card left. He can't discard half a card, and the BigBad never programed in anything for that scenario, so the illegal card destroys itself because the cost can't be paid.]]
** Suguroku used this trope as justification for his MoreHeroThanThou moment. He and his friend, Arthur, were trapped in a cave-in. With supplies dwindling and no way to call for help, they played a card game to decide who got the remaining food. Suguroku won- and gave the food to Arthur.
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries'', during his Shadow Game with Kaoruko, Dark Yugi stated that whomever drew the last rose in her possession would lose the game. Just when Kaoruko thought she won with only one rose left in her bouquet, Dark Yugi plucked the rose that was embedded in her hair, as he never explicitly stated they were to draw roses from the bouquet alone.
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